Black Holes (IAU S238) : From Stars to Galaxies - Across the Range of Masses

Cambridge University Press

Black Holes (IAU S238)From Stars to Galaxies - Across the Range of Masses\nAuthor(s): Vladimir Karas, Giorgio Matt\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521863476, 978-0521863476\nSynopsis\nUntil recently, black holes were often considered as exotic objects of dubious existence. In the last decade, observations have provided overwhelming evidence in favour of the presence of supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies, including the Milky Way; of stellar-mass black holes in binary stellar systems; and, possibly, of intermediate-mass black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies. Black holes are now widely accepted as real physical entities, playing an important role in modern astrophysics. IAU S238 brought together observers and theoreticians working in black hole astrophysics - from stellar-mass black holes to supermassive ones residing at the centre of galaxies - with the ai.